Friction drive toy

ABSTRACT

A mobile toy of the type designed to move over a surface or through the air and comprising an energy storing rotary element in the form of a flywheel which, when set into rotational motion, provides energy to propelling means thereby causing movement of the toy. The flywheel includes a driving surface formed thereon and designed to movably engage a driving member in the form of an elongated, flexible shaft capable of at least partially surrounding the flywheel in cooperative relation to the driving surface. Guide means are provided to maintain the driving member in working engagement with the flywheel. Relative movement between the drive member and the flywheel causes rotation of the flywheel and movement of the toy.

ilnited States Patent 1 Winston [54] FRICTION DRIVE TOY [76] Inventor:Emanuel A. Winston, 871 Marion Avenue, Highland Park, 111.

[22] Filed: Mar. 31, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 129,877

[11] 3,732,645 1 May 15, 1973 Primary ExaminerLouis G. Mancene AssistantExaminerJ. Q. Lever Attorney- Stefan M. Stein [57] ABSTRACT A mobile toyof the type designed to move over a surface or through the air andcomprising an energy storing rotary element in the form of a flywheelwhich, when set into rotational motion, provides energy to propellingmeans thereby causing movement of the toy. The flywheel includes adriving surface formed thereon and designed to movably engage a drivingmember in the form of an elongated, flexible shaft capable of at leastpartially surrounding the flywheel in cooperative relation to thedriving surface. Guide means are provided to maintain the driving memberin working engagement with the flywheel. Relative movement between thedrive member and the flywheel causes rotation of the flywheel andmovement of the toy.

8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures FRICTION DRIVE TOY BACKGROUNDOFTHEINVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a toywhich may be in the form of an automobile, airplane, boat or the likeand which is designed to move over a surface or through the air, for arelatively long period by means of a rotationally mounted flywheel whichsupplies energy .to' propelling means in the form of wheels or apropeller.

2. Description of the Prior Art There are a wide variety of toys such asairplanes, helicopters, automobiles, boats and the like which aredesigned either to move over a surface, including water, or through theair. In designing toys'capable of such movement, it is desirable toprovide a sturdy, relatively uncomplicated drive assembly to providesuch motion. Toys of this type must be both sturdy and uncomplicatedsince they will be subject to rather rough treatment in the handsofsmall children. However, such toys should be capable of high performancein order to be popular with children and therefore be attractive fromthe commercial standpoint. Accordingly, I the manufacturers anddesigners of conventional mobile toys run into the problems of providingan inexpensive, durable toy of relatively simple structure but capableof performing efficiently under relatively abusive conditions.

A number of conventional mobiletoys have been designed to accentuate theperformance features in an attempt to make these toys more popular froma commercial standpoint. However, in increasing the performance of suchtoys, manufacturers have resorted to relatively complex drive assemblieswhich have the effect of raising the cost and also making the toys lessdurable. This, of course, is unsatisfactory since the more complicateddrive assemblies readily break down, thereby necessitating repair-orrendering the toy inoperative and useless. These relativelycomplicateddrive assemblies include rack and pinion arrangements or other gearassemblies wherebythe driving and driven members have correspondinglyshaped surfaces which provide working engagement between the driving anddriven members. Such complicated structures may be easily jammedorfouled and require additional maintenance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a high performancemobile toy of durable construction, which overcomes the problemsgenerally associated with mobile toys of this type.

More specifically, the present toy may be a helicopter, airplane, boat,automobile or like vehicle, and is provided with an energy storingrotary element in the form of a flywheel. The flywheel is rotationallymounted on the body of the toy and includes an ann'ular driving surfaceformed thereon. This surface is arranged to cooperate with a drivingmember to be described in detail hereinafter. The flywheel may includeweight means comprising a plurality of weighted ele ments in the form ofa plurality of annular shaped discs removably attached to the flywheel.The addition or removal of these weighted elements provides for theselective varying of weight of the flywheel as desired. Each of the toyson which the flywheel may be mounted includes various types ofpropelling means which may be in the form of wheels, propellers or thelike. The flywheel is connected directly to the propelling means by anyapplicable type connecting means. Once the'weighted flywheel is set inmotion it tends to drive the propelling means for a relatively prolongedperiod thereby moving the toy vehicle in a desired direction.

A driving member comprising an elongated shaft is provided tooperatively engage the driving surface of the flywheel thereby causingit to rotate which in turn causes the toy to move as desired. The guidemeans is arranged relative to the flywheel such that the driving memberis forced into operative engagement with the driving surface. It shouldbe pointed out that the driving surface may be abrasive or roughenedsuch that the coefficient of friction between the driving member and thedriving surface is increased. Accordingly, when the driving member movesrelative to the flywheel and in engagement with the driving surface, theflywheel is caused to rotate. On the other hand, the coefficient offrictionbetween the guide means and the driving member should be smallto allow unhampered movement between these two elements. The guide meansmay be movably mounted by means of a biasing spring or the like. Thisbias means directs force against the driving member thereby maintainingit in movably, frictional engagement with the rotary element; Thisincreases the efficiency with which the driving means is operated.

It should be noted that the driving member is capable of movement ineither direction co-linear to its own longitudinal axis when the memberis extended. Of course, the direction of the linear movement of theshaft relative to the flywheel determines the direction Of the rotationof the flywheel and accordingly the direction of rotation of thepropelling means. This allows the toy to move in either forward orreverse direction with equal performance characteristics.

In operation, the body of the toy is held in the users hand and theshaftis inserted between the guide means and the rotary element, inengagement with the driving surface. Once the shaft is fully inserted,the flywheel is set in motion by rapidly and forcefully withdrawing thedrive shaft by means of a handle which may be attached to eitherextremity of the shaft. When the flywheel is set in motion thegyroscopic effect created thereby tends to maintain stability of theaxis of the flywheel thereby making it efficient for operation in ahelicopter type toy. The energy stored due to the rapid withdrawal ofthe driving shaft causes driving of the propelling means for a somewhatprolonged period.

It can therefore be seen that a number of the problems'prevalent inconventional type mobile toys are solved by utilizing the driveasse-mbly'of the present invention.

The present invention accordingly comprises the features ofconstruction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts whichwill be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and thescope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a fuller understanding of thenature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to thefollowing detailed description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of the drive assembly of the presentinvention utilized in a helicopter type toy.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the drive assembly utilized in anautomobile type toy.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 1 and depictingthe cooperation between the flywheel and drive shaft.

FIG. 4 is a top sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2 showingthe direction of rotation of the flywheel.

FIG. 5 is a top sectional view showing another embodiment of the guidemeans of the present invention.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout theseveral views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 this invention relates tovarious types of mobile toys generally indicated at and including a body12 which may be made from a molded plastic or like durable material.Depending upon the type of toy vehicle in which the present invention isutilized, a propelling means which may be in the form of propeller 14 orwheels 16 serve to move the vehicle. The propelling means is driven by adrive assembly generally indicated at 18 and movably mounted on body 12.The driving assembly comprises a rotary element in the form of aflywheel 20 which has a driving surface 22 formed thereon. An outwardlyextending flange 24, having a plurality of connecting means 26 in theform of threaded bolts or the like, are used to attach weighted elementswhich form a portion of the flywheel. These elements 28 are annularlyshaped in a stacked array about flange 24 and may be easily removedtherefrom by means of removing the bolts 26. This allows the weight ofthe flywheel to be varied as desired.

The drive assembly further comprises a driving member in the form of adrive shaft 30 and a guide means 32 arranged in cooperative relation toboth the flywheel and the drive member. The drive shaft 30 is arrangedto movably engage both the driving surface 22 of the flywheel 20 and theinterior surface of the guide means 32. The guide means 32 serves tomaintain the drive shaft 30 in close frictional engagement with drivesurface 22. Consequently as shaft 30 moves in a co-linear directionrelative to its own longitudinal axis, when extended, flywheel 20 iscaused to rotate. The direction of movement referred to is indicated byarrow 36 showing the withdrawal of shaft 30 from the drive assembly 18(FIG. 1). As stated above the shaft 30 may be made from a flexiblematerial such that the shaft may be arranged to partially surround thecentral axis 38 on which the flywheel is mounted (FIG. 4). This has atendency to increase the co-efficient friction between the surface ofshaft 30 and driving surface 22 in contact therewith. By this method theflywheel is more efficiently rotated. As indicated by arrow 40 theflywheel may move in either direction. It is obvious that the directionof rotation of flywheel 20, as indicated in FIG. 4, is dependent uponthe direction of movement of the shaft 30 in engagement with drivingsurface 22. For this reason, shaft 30 may be positioned between guidemeans 32 and driving surface 22, from either end thereof and bewithdrawn from the same end by means of handle 42. Of course, shaft 30may be made from a rigid material when it is not intended to surroundaxis 38 in the manner described above.

As pointed out above the flywheel is caused to rotate due to thefrictional engagement between surface 22 and drive shaft 30. In order toincrease the force with which drive shaft 30 engages surface 22, guidemeans 32 may include a biasing means 44. This biasing means may take theform of a conventional spring and serve to force the guide means 32 inthe direction indicated by arrow 46. When drive shaft 30 is withdrawn(directional arrow 48), guide means 32 is forced against shaft 30thereby increasing the pressure between shaft 30 and driving surface 22.On the other hand when the shaft 30 is inserted it moves guide means 32against its biasing force in the direction indicated by arrow 50. Whenthe shaft is moved in this direction, (directional arrow 52) the biasingforce does not serve to increase the pressure between shaft 30 anddriving surface 22 as is shown.

In operation shaft 30 is inserted between guide means 32 and the drivingsurface 22 of the flywheel. Upon being inserted to its fullest point,the operator of the toy grasps handle 42 firmly and pulls the shaft 30forcefully and rapidly out of its inserted position within body 12. Theinteraction of driving surface 22 and the cooperating surface of driveshaft 30 causes rotation of flywheel 20. Because of connecting meansextending between propelling means of the toy and the flywheel thepropelling means are also caused to be rotated thereby providing thedesired motion to the toy.

It will thus be seen that the objects made apparent from the precedingdescription, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may bemade in the above construction without departing from the scope of theinvention, it is intended that all matter contained in the abovedescription or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpretedas illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended tocover all of the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as amatter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Now that the invention has been described,

What is claimed is:

1. A toy comprising a body, a rotary element rotatably mounted on saidbody and including a driving surface formed thereon, a driving member tomovably and frictionally engaging said rotary element, guide meansconnected to said toy, said guide means being in cooperative relationwith said rotary element and arranged in operative relation to both saidrotary element and said driving member, biasing means interconnectedbetween said guide means and said body, said biasing means forcing saidguide means into working engagement with said drive member, wherebymovement of said driving member relative to said rotary element causesrotation of said rotary element; propelling means mounted on said bodyin such a manner as to propel said toy, means to interconnect saidrotary element and said propelling means such that rotation of saidrotary element causes movement of said propelling means.

2. A toy as in claim 1 wherein said driving member is arranged to moverelative to both said guide means and said rotary element, said biasingmeans comprising a spring connected to said guide means and biasing itto force said driving member into frictional engagement with said rotaryelement when said driving member moves in one predetermined direction,and said spring further arranged to force said guide means out ofbiasing relation to said drive member when said drive member moves in anopposite direction to said one predetermined direction.

3. A toy as in claim 1 wherein said rotary element comprises a flywheel,said driving surface positioned on said flywheel in operative engagementwith said driving member.

4. A toy as in claim 3 wherein said flywheel includes weight meansremovably attached thereto such that the weight of said flywheel may bevaried.

5. A toy as in claim 4 wherein said weight means includes a plurality ofdiscs removably attached in a substantially stacked array, to saidrotary element.

6. A toy as in claim 1 wherein said driving member comprises anelongated shaft and said driving surface is roughened so as tocooperatively engage said driving member whereby the coefficient offriction between said driving surface and said driving member isincreased.

7. A toy as in claim 1 wherein said driving member includes an elongatedflexible element arranged to move relative to both said rotary elementand said guide means.

8. A toy as in claim 7 wherein said driving member is arranged to atleast partially surround said driving member in moving engagement withsaid driving surface.

1. A toy comprising a body, a rotary element rotatably mounted on saidbody and including a driving surface formed thereon, a driving member tomovably and frictionally engaging said rotary element, guide meansconnected to said toy, said guide means being in cooperative relationwith said rotary element and arranged in operative relation to both saidrotary element and said driving member, biasing means interconnectedbetween said guide means and said body, said biasing means forcing saidguide means into working engagement with said drive member, wherebymovement of said driving member relative to said rotary element causesrotation of said rotary element; propelling means mounted on said bodyin such a manner as to propel said toy, means to interconnect saidrotary element and said propelling means such that rotation of saidrotary element causes movement of said propelling means.
 2. A toy as inclaim 1 wherein said driving member is arranged to move relative to bothsaid guide means and said rotary element, said biasing means comprisinga spring connected to said guide means and biasing it to force saiddriving member into frictional engagement with said rotary element whensaid driving member moves in one predetermined direction, and saidspring further arranged to force said guide means out of biasingrelation to said drive member when said drive member moves in anopposite direction to said one predetermined direction.
 3. A toy as inclaim 1 wherein said rotary element comprises a flywheel, said drivingsurface positioned on said flywheel in operative engagement with saiddriving member.
 4. A toy as in claim 3 wherein said flywheel includesweight means removably attached thereto such that the weight of saidflywheel may be varied.
 5. A toy as in claim 4 wherein said weight meansincludes a plurality of discs removably attached in a substantiallystacked array, to said rotary element.
 6. A toy as in claim 1 whereinsaid driving member comprises an elongated shaft and said drivingsurface is roughened so as to cooperatively engage said driving memberwhereby the coefficient of friction between said driving surface andsaid driving member is increased.
 7. A toy as in claim 1 wherein saiddriving member includes an elongated flexible element arranged to moverelative to both said rotary element and said guide means.
 8. A toy asin claim 7 wherein said driving member is arranged to at least partiallysurround said driving member in moving engagement with said drivingsurface.